Heg.1115. throne, and the multitude of beauties in the J.C.1703. haram, would divert the fultan from a paffion which constraint had kindled. But as foon as he learned that he was looking for her, Nuhé effendi haftened to bring him his fpoufe, protefting to his highnefs that he had preferved her as a precious truft, which he had not confidered himself at liberty to touch. Achmet, transported with joy, rewarded the complaifant effendi, and afterward made him cadilefker. He begged him to take care of Sarai fome days longer, whom he meant to make a fultanefs; but it was neceffary to obtain the confent of the valid fultanefs, as the mother of the emperor has the fuperintendency of the haram, and one of those ancient laws which are not written, but which an old custom causes to be refpected, will not allow a woman of the feraglio ever to re-enter there when she has once left it. Curdifca ftrongly opposed the defire of her fon; because, she said, the affakys, defigned to give princes to the Ottoman empire, fhould never have been known but by the emperor; and the living before with another man, however innocent the might be, would cause a great fcandal among the Muffulmen. The monarch, all amorous and defpotic as he was, refpected the obftacle which his mother continually threw in his way. He found, . among the officers of the feraglio, a man as complaifant as Nuhé effendi had been. The baltagi pachi Mehemet was very willing to pass for the hufband Eeg.1115. J.C. 1703. husband of Sarai, and guard her faithfully for his master. This service got him the rank of bashaw of the bench, and as foon as Caia Lili had given up the seals, Sarai obtained them for her reputed spouse. J.C. 1704. power of grand vi zier. People then faw a fpectacle very new in the Great Ottoman empire, a fultan who neglected his Sarai, the haram to go difguifed in fearch of his mistress in wife of the another man's houfe, and who no longer held his councils in the divan, but in the apartment of the grand vizier's wives, where that minifter received the orders of his master and of her who passed for his wife. The power of Sarai was fuch, that the valid fultanefs was conftrained to bend the knee before this idol, and to feek the protection of her whom fhe had kept from the rank of affaky. There was no doubt that fhe would have been admitted into the haram with the confent of the valid fultanefs when her afcendency' over the monarch was well established, if this haughty woman had not been more flattered to fee her master renounce the pleasures of his court to come and adore her at her own house, and preferred giving law daily to the minifter, who paffed for her husband, to living in folitude and captivity in the haram, waiting for the favors of the fultan. Sarai decided fo imperiously on the most important affairs, that the grand vizier Mehemet, who was raised to that dignity folely to obey her, was obliged to make ufe of artifice to prevent the mifchief which an imprudent young woman, woman, without talents for bufinefs, or the leaft J.C. 1704. Heg.1116. experience, could not fail of committing. have an reign mer. The mufti and the kiflar aga, with the appro- She will bation of the valid fultanefs, had obtained Sarai's impoft put confent that a tax of three per cent. fhould be laid on foon all foreign merchandise, and be paid into the chandife. treasury of the mofques, befides the excise paid to the public treasury, and which had been confiderably increased in the preceding reign. This new impofition, made without any neceffity, and in which the advisers of the measure found means to fatisfy their avidity, might do great injury to the public good, by preventing the merchants from caufing woollen cloths, linens, and a great quantity of other merchandise not manufactured in the Turkish empire, to be brought thither. It was in vain that the grand vizier reprefented the injury which this new impoft would do to commerce; he was obliged to feal the catcherif which impofed it. Mehemet plotted with the foreigners to ferve his master against his will. The French, English, How this Venetian, and Dutch ambassadors, declared, they project would put a stop to the bringing of fuch mer- turned. chandise or commodities as were to be fubjected to this exorbitant duty, contrary to treaty, and which both humbled and impoverished their nations. The vizier carried the fultan a memorial from the four ambaffadors, which he had himself folicited, and he authorifed them under-hand to ftop their commerce. This proceeding cheated the avidity of the kiflar aga. The valid sultaness is over and 1 J.C. 1704 and the grand vizier's reputed wife were as incaHeg. 1116. pable of removing this obftacle as they had been of foreseeing it and of perceiving the defects of their project. The catcherif was revoked. This did not increase Sarai's confidence in her husband, whom fhe looked upon as her upper servant, and on whom the avenged every day all the Turkish women, flaves and prifoners of their husbands. Trouble plexity of Achmet. During the first years of the reign of Achmet, and per- he was in continual fear of being depofed. The examples of Muftapha his brother, and of Mahomet IV. his father, were always, prefent in his imagination, Though the profound peace which the Ottoman empire enjoyed rendered it no way difficult to govern, and the body of the nation, fatigued with the violent fhocks which it had experienced, feemed to relifh a neceffary repofe, the fultan could not fee some soldiers and effendis affembled, without fuppofing plots or confpiracies. All the blood which he had fpilt to punish the depofition of his brother, and to fecure the sceptre in his own hands, could not remove his fears for the future. In fine, Achmet experienced on his throne that fear and perplexity which are the lot of tyrants. He renewed the ordinance that forbade the foldiers, or even the citizens, to walk more than four together in the ftreets. The offenders were liable to a fevere baftinade: fome even were put to death on flight fufpicions. The emperor, always full of frightful ideas, fent qne day Heg.1116. day for the mufti and fome of the mollacs of moft J.C. 1704. reputation, to afk of them the interpretation of a dream. He said that he had seen his palace all in flames; and as he was making vain efforts to extinguish this terrible fire, and was himself on the point of becoming a prey to it, he awoke with terror. "Great prince," replied the mufti to him, " calm the uneafinefs with which "you are agitated; give over hedding blood "and terrifying yourself, and then you will have "lefs frightful dreams." pro to 1708. to 1120. He abfolutely war against the khan Tartars. Meanwhile all Europe was envying Turkey J.C.1705, the peace which it enjoyed. The king of Swe- Heg.1117, den, Charles XII. had juft wrested the fceptre of Poland from the hands of king Auguftus, refufes elector of Saxony, to give it to Stanislaus Lec- to declare zinski. He menaced Peter the Great, the the western empire, tector of king Auguftus. On the other fide, the and depofes fucceffion of Spain had armed the houfe of Auf- of the tria against that of France. England and Holland had joined the Austrians; and France, which the year 1705 was fatal to, wanted to raise up a powerful diversion against enemies whom this confederacy rendered very formidable. Count Tekli was lately dead. Though he had turned Roman catholic to please Lewis XIV. there was reafon to doubt the fincerity of his converfion, as he had ordered in his will that he should be interred in a Lutheran temple. Prince Ragotski, an Hungarian lord, who had married the only daughter of count Tekli, became the inheritor of his pre tenfions, |